


Sleepless Night

by Alja



Series: The Road to the Keyblade War [5]
Category: Kingdom Hearts
Genre: Friendship, Gen, Hurt/Comfort, Ven ships it, implied Terraqua, slight romance, written for Terraweek 2018
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-02-23
Updated: 2018-02-23
Packaged: 2019-03-23 01:36:42
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,430
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13776912
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Alja/pseuds/Alja
Summary: Sleepless nights were something Aqua was accustomed to now. On her usual trip to the kitchen in the middle of the night, she finds out that she isn't the only sleepless person that night.





	Sleepless Night

**Author's Note:**

> This is a story for Terraweek 2018's prompt “free choice”. I hope Aqua doesn't steal Terra's spotlight too much :/

A silent gasp escaped Aqua as she set up instantaneously, her whole body trembling. She intuitively roamed the ground beneath her, grasping at the sheets that were wound tightly around her legs, breathing heavily until her eyes picked up a tiny light in the corner of her eye. She turned to it.

It was a small, flower shaped night light Ven had brought into her room to help her sleep. It did help; she progressed from sleeping less than two hours at a time to being able to sleep for up until five hours. It helped remind her that she was back in the Realm of Light and not stuck in the Dark Worlds anymore.

Her breathing evened out as the rest of her surroundings reappeared: Books and their bookshelf slowly took shape again as well as her small work desk in the other corner of the room. Aqua’s hand twitched slightly at the movement behind her chair until she recognized the curtains, swaying softly in the warm summer night. She raked her fingers through her hair, tousling it up even more, and breathed heavily when she reached for the alarm clock with her other hand.

2.30 am.

Aqua sighed. She might me able to sleep longer at a time, but waking up in the middle of the night usually meant a very early morning for her. Reluctantly, she untangled herself from her stuffy bedsheets and stretched at the edge of the bed before getting up and scratching her neck. A cup of tea might be enough to calm her nerves a little and maybe it would help her at least take a short nap...

She left her bedroom and slowly trudged through the hallway. She arrived at Ven's door and stopped shortly before she cracked it open a little. She couldn't peer inside, but the soft snore told her it was one of the few nights Ven was able to sleep; thankfully, once he _did_ fall asleep, hardly anything could wake him up until morning. Aqua closed the door gently with a smile on her lips, until she turned to the room that lay across to Ven's. Her heart fell.

It was Terra's room.

He had returned to them two weeks ago, after a long and grueling fight to get him back that left him unconscious for a few days. According to Aerith, physically he was mostly fine, but she saw that he had changed.

Terra had always been the silent type, but he seemed even quieter now, spacing out at times, not paying attention to his surroundings. He spent a lot of time in his room alone and while Aerith had told her that it was normal and respected for his recovery – after all, his mind was still coming to terms with handling four different sets of memories and life experiences in one body and it tired him out immensely – Aqua still couldn't shake the feeling that Terra was trying to avoid people – and mostly her.

And she couldn't blame him. She had messed up after the Mark of Mastery exam, she hadn't trusted him despite knowing him for the better part of her life and she helped pushing him even more into Xehanort's clutches.

Aqua sighed.

It did her no good to ponder about this now and it wouldn’t help Terra either if she woke him up in the middle of the night. She threw a last lingering glance at his closed door and continued down the hallway, not paying attention to the soft light streaming out from under the kitchen door until she had already opened it.

At the sight of those achingly familiar blue eyes, Aqua’s heart stopped.

Terra sat in the middle of the corner booth, a huge steaming cup cradled in his hands. He looked up at her in surprise, the dark purple bags under his eyes so much more pronounced than she remembered this morning. His hair was mussed up and despite the warmth of the night, a light blanket was thrown over his shoulders.

The sight of him was so utterly heartbreaking that she couldn’t stand it anymore. Personal boundaries be damned, time be damned, he couldn’t continue to keep his hurt to himself and –

Terra lifted his cup to her in silent invitation, an insecure smile on his lips.

Suppressing a relieved sigh and on the edge between walking and running, Aqua made her way across the kitchen, sitting down next to Terra, just as uncertain as him. Wordlessly, Terra handed her his cup and she smiled at him in thanks, bringing the edge of it to her lips. She relished he taste of the hot black tea with just the right amount of sugar to taste.

Terra didn’t utter a word and Aqua chose to keep quiet as well, the only sounds being their cautious sips as they drank from the cup alternatingly, and it felt surprisingly comfortable. Aqua threw a curious glance up to Terra from the corner of her eye. With a frown, she realized that the withdrawn expression was back on his face and letting her eyes travel down slowly, she noticed how his tank top stuck to his body with sweat.

“Nightmares?”

He gave a noncommittal grunt, but Aqua saw his eye twitch. She bit her lip for a second before scooting closer, their bare thighs now touching. She felt Terra tense up, but instead of backing off, she grabbed the edge of the blanket that lay abandoned on the bench and wrapped it around her shoulder to preserve Terra's warmth.

“I have nightmares sometimes,” she opened up to him. “I dream that I am back in the Realm of Darkness, with countless of Heartless attacking me. Most of them are small and rather harmless, but the big ones...,” she lowered her head. “I don't sleep well. It's hard to suddenly give up your instincts that helped you survive for 12 years. But Ven helped me.”

She felt Terra's shoulder shift – he had turned to her a little, listening intently. She smiled.

“He somehow got a hold of a nightlight for me. To be honest, I haven't even thought about the problem being the Darkness itself, I thought it was natural for me to process everything that happened with nightmares, but the first night I slept with the lamp plugged in? I felt like a new person. I'm not good, but I am better.” She licked her lips. “Maybe we can help _you_ get a little better, too?”

They settled back to silence, tea cup long empty, and Aqua considered brewing a new one when Terra finally answered her.

“It's complicated,” he told her, and Aqua immediately reached for his hand that was resting in his lap to encourage him to go on. He gently squeezed her hand in response.

“Memories are coming back to me. From my time as Lord Ansem's apprentice, as his impersonator, as Xemnas.” His shoulders drooped. “It's exhausting. Sometimes it's so overwhelming I can't even sit straight and need to lie down. And in the night? I get nightmares. It always starts out with the most grueling memories of the day-” he swallowed, “and then I dream of a boy named Roxas. He was part of the Organization and looks just like Ven, you know? I dream about how Xemnas abuses him and I can't tell whether it's true or not because I still lack some of his memories.”

He took a shaky breath.

“And then the dream shifts and I see you.”

Goosebumps covered Aqua's arms and she felt Terra shiver distinctly, too, before he continued.

“We're in Radiant Garden. Xehanort had just taken over my body, but I was fighting against him. I was fighting so hard against him, and then you came. You ran towards me, I saw you, I wanted to scream at you to just attack me, but instead I reach out for you and grab your throat.”

Terra raised his hand to look at it incredulously and as he did so, an itch returned to Aqua's throat, the memory of his ruthless touch embedded in her forever.

“I know I let go in reality. Thank _God_ I did let go. But I never do in my dream. I keep pressing on, watch your eyes slowly roll back. I see your limps go slack, your face turn blue and your head loll back. And I still keep pressing on.”

He furiously raked his hand through to calm himself.

“I keep doing it until I have enough satisfaction of watching you die and I just dispose of you. The moment your body hits the pavement with a sickening crack is the moment I wake up every night.”

“I'm here,” Aqua interrupted him, stroking his arm softly with her free hand, “I'm alive. Ven is safe, unharmed. He's sleeping in his room. He's actually snoring right now and probably drooling on his pillow.”

That finally seemed to loosen the atmosphere – first slowly and quietly, then openly Terra shook with soft laughter and Aqua saw him wipe away a stray tear from the corner of his eye.

“He slept 12 years and still needs more sleep. This boy burns way too much energy at day.”

“You wouldn't believe it,” Aqua chimed in and the two of them smiled at each other for a second before Terra let go of her hand. Disappointment shot through Aqua, having become way too comfortable snuggled up to her friend but instead of pushing her off him, he grabbed the edge of the blanket and lay his arm around Aqua, pulling her close and effectively pressing her against him. A small blush spread onto her cheeks, but Aqua embraced him with a smile on her lips, closing her eyes. She felt Terra place his other arm around her, too, and felt him sigh deeply as he gently pressed his head against hers.

“Thank you,” she heard Terra murmur into her hair and she squeezed him little.

“Don't hide from us anymore, okay?” Aqua mumbled as a small yawn escaped her, “It's easier when you're not alone.”

She felt him nod in response, but before she could continue, Terra's warmth and his soft breathing had lulled her back to sleep.

* * *

“Aqua? Aqua, wake up.”

Aqua didn't answer, instead she snuggled further into her pillow.

Some kind of light flashed behind her eyes. Confused and still groggy, she waved her hand in the general direction of the light, indicating for its cause to leave her alone, whoever this was.

“You know, I probably regret this even more than you, but it's 8 am already and, you know, Kairi and Lea are kind of waiting for you?”

8 am? Kairi and Lea?

With a start, Aqua shot up, but a pair of strong arms prevented her from sitting up fully. Only then she realized that she was still in the kitchen since last night, sitting on the corner booth and using Terra's chest as a pillow. Heat shot up her face immediately and another flash occurred. She turned her head to its source and saw Ven standing on the other side of the table with a cheeky grin, a camera in his hand.

“What are you – Ventus!” Aqua gasped and untangled herself as gently as possible from Terra's strong grip, sitting up and smoothing down her hair.

“Sorry,” Ven grinned at her, “Believe me, I would have let you sleep, but I know you wouldn't appreciate being late to your lectures –”

“I already _am_ late, Ven!” Aqua puffed angrily, but relaxed a little when Ven's teasing grin morphed into a genuine smile as his eyes wandered over to Terra. She followed his glance and saw Terra sleeping with his arms crossed in front of his chest, head dangling forward precariously now that he didn't have Aqua's head to rest it upon.

“You two talked, huh?”

“Yeah,” Aqua answered, smile playing along her lips, “I think things will finally start getting better for all three of us.”

Another flash, and Aqua turned around angrily.

“ _Ventus_ , I swear –!”

“I'm done, I'm done!” he laughed with his arms up in surrender and started walking towards the door before he turned back to face Aqua again. “Kairi and Lea are waiting in the gym. I've told them to meditate until you're there. And tell this big doofus over there,” he nodded at Terra, “he's bad at pretending he's asleep. And he better be at lunch so we can finally catch up. See you later!”

Before Ven even closed the door behind him, Aqua turned back to Terra, her mouth open in shock. And indeed, Terra sat in the same position as before, only now, his eyes were open and a frown was etched on his face. Thankfully, the dark circles under his eyes weren't as pronounced anymore as they were at night.

“Since when have you been awake?”

“Since Ven entered the kitchen. He started laughing like crazy, ran out to fetch his camera, rushed back in and took at least ten pictures before he even attempted to wake you up.”

The slight blush on her cheeks from before returned twice as fierce, spreading down to her neck and chest.

“I thought you weren't going to avoid us anymore,” she huffed indignantly.

“I'm not, I promise,” he answered sincerely and finally got up from his seat, stretching a little and scratching his stomach before stepping up to her. Aqua's heart leaped up – she had forgotten how much Terra towered over her. “But I wanted to talk to you in private. It's the first time I was able to sleep peacefully. I can't remember having a single nightmare. Thanks to you.”

“Yeah, me too, even though the position was rather awkward, I haven't slept this well in ages,” she answered softly, then bit her lip. “I'm sorry, I really have to go and-”

“Can we-,” Terra grasped her shoulders in desperation and Aqua opened her eyes wide upon his action. He backed off of her immediately, looking to his side, but she wouldn't have any of it

“Yes?”

“Could you maybe...,” he looked at her out of the corner of his eye, “...stay with me tonight? To keep the nightmares away?”

Aqua felt her heart speed up, but she smiled and reached out for his right hand, just like she had years ago in the Dark Realm. This time, it was his real hand, it was warm and she could really, truly pull it close and cradle it to her chest while she looked up to him.

“Whatever it takes.”

 


End file.
